Who are the real,drug free, fastest men of all time?

I took a safe stab at Zatopek. Figured there would be arguments for others that came later as to whether they were clean or not.

Evans: 68 Oly 400 champ. 43.86 Met him in early 90's at NAU training athletes from Qatar. Nice guy. Most agree that Tommy Smith would have beaten him.

Wolhuter: U of Chicago 1:43+ Had some great battles with Mike Boit

Bayi: Tanzanian who trained in the mountains without modern track or weight program. Early African star that broke Jim Ryun's record by a tenth.

I goofed on Clarke. Ron Clarke. Darren Clark was an Aussie 400 runner.

Forgot about Rono. Good choice. I actually met him in the early 90's in the middle of the Arizona dessert, Winslow, at an all-star cross country meet. I introduced my team to him and he warmed up with us. Told us to use our arms more when we ran. He learned to use his arms as a soldier marching in Kenya.

Coe was my hero while I was getting started. Today, I think he was on the leading edge of some things in an era that allowed him to perform at such a high level across so many distances. The athletes of the time were starting to fail tests but were being protected because of the money being generated as the professionalism in the sport was really taking off.

Jim Ryun

on '70s synthetic track, legal wind, perfect temps, wabbits, beef steaks, peak '67 shape

9.40

18.98

42.80

1:39.85

2:08.50

3:24.00

3:41.00

7:17.00

7:52.00

12:29

25:59

57:45

1:59:59

I seem to remember a well known Russian pole vault coach saying no one has ever gone over 19 feet without drugs. That suggests something similar to what you're saying: it's been a LONG time since anyone clean was competitive. I definitely don't know enough about it to have my own opinion, but thoughts like this make me wonder.

Results though? wrote:

May get blasted for this.

Around...

9.9

19.8

44

1:41.73

3:29

3:46

12:55

26:50

1:00

2:08

Obviously Chris Lemaitre

Only black guys do drugs.

ziigmund wrote:

Obviously Chris Lemaitre

Only black guys do drugs.

That's why black guys dominate road cycling.

I would say Obikwelu (provided that we consider Bolt dirty) since I have never heard wild accusations about him, plus he's the Europe record holder.

Basically all records 1968 and earlier.

mentolin^3 wrote:

Jim Ryun

on '70s synthetic track, legal wind, perfect temps, wabbits, beef steaks, peak '67 shape

9.40

18.98

42.80

1:39.85

2:08.50

3:24.00

3:41.00

7:17.00

7:52.00

12:29

25:59

57:45

1:59:59

Not often, but sometimes letsrun really is good for some laughing.

Infonews wrote:

ziigmund wrote:

Obviously Chris Lemaitre

Only black guys do drugs.

That's why black guys dominate road cycling.

I would say Obikwelu (provided that we consider Bolt dirty) since I have never heard wild accusations about him, plus he's the Europe record holder.

There was some evidence a while back, cant be bothered to post details but it was when Portuguese and Spanish police anti-drug departments busted a lot of spaniards and a doping ring, there was some tapes and recordingsa of an unidentified "african male" sprinter "ordering" stuff nothing was ever lined to Obikwelu but a lot of people supect his camp had stron ties with the people busted.

This is my all-time clean list -

100m - 9.86, Frank Fredericks (NAM)

110H - 12.93, Ronaldo Nehemiah (USA)

200m - 19.53, Walter Dix (USA)

400m - 43.86, Lee Evans (USA)

400H - 47.02, Edwin Moses (USA)

800m - 1:40.91, David Rudisha (KEN)

1500m - 3:29.43, Venuste Niyongabo (BDI)

3000m - 7:25.09, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

3000m SC - 7:56.16, Moses Kiptanui (KEN)

5000m - 12:39.36, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

10,000m - 26:22.75, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

Marathon - 2:04:53, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

High Jump - 2.45m, Javier Sotomayor (CUB)

Pole Vault - 6.14m, Sergey Bubka (UKR)

Long Jump - 8.90m, Bob Beamon (USA)

Triple Jump - 17.97, Willie Banks (USA)

Edwards was clean and Soto was not

0bi wrote:

There was some evidence a while back, cant be bothered to post details but it was when Portuguese and Spanish police anti-drug departments busted a lot of spaniards and a doping ring, there was some tapes and recordingsa of an unidentified "african male" sprinter "ordering" stuff nothing was ever lined to Obikwelu but a lot of people supect his camp had stron ties with the people busted.

If the doping ring that you are talking about is the puerto affair (and it is most likely this one) which involved the Spanish Guardia Civil, all the track athletes involved were middle distance runner

zelezny clean

Interesting thoughts on marathoners. And you think HG's last world record was doped?

mentolin^3 wrote:

Jim Ryun

on '70s synthetic track, legal wind, perfect temps, wabbits, beef steaks, peak '67 shape

9.40

18.98

42.80

1:39.85

2:08.50

3:24.00

3:41.00

7:17.00

7:52.00

12:29

25:59

57:45

1:59:59

On dirt, MAYBE. On MONDO, Ryan run much faster.

Dwl wrote:

This is my all-time clean list -

100m - 9.86, Frank Fredericks (NAM)

110H - 12.93, Ronaldo Nehemiah (USA)

200m - 19.53, Walter Dix (USA)

400m - 43.86, Lee Evans (USA)

400H - 47.02, Edwin Moses (USA)

800m - 1:40.91, David Rudisha (KEN)

1500m - 3:29.43, Venuste Niyongabo (BDI)

3000m - 7:25.09, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

3000m SC - 7:56.16, Moses Kiptanui (KEN)

5000m - 12:39.36, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

10,000m - 26:22.75, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

Marathon - 2:04:53, Haile Gebrselassie (ETH)

High Jump - 2.45m, Javier Sotomayor (CUB)

Pole Vault - 6.14m, Sergey Bubka (UKR)

Long Jump - 8.90m, Bob Beamon (USA)

Triple Jump - 17.97, Willie Banks (USA)

You think Bubka and Sotomayor were clean? I'd love to think Bubka was, but it's so suspect.

Gebre? I hope so.

Agreed on Rudisha and Beamon.

Kracker wrote:

Probably Bob Hayes

This is the correct answer. Youngsters, look him up.

As far as we know, the top 5 fastest men of all time are:

Usain Bolt

Yohan Blake

Tyson Gay (2011)

Asafa Powell (2008)

Nesta Carter

Good list. I'd replace Moses with David Hemery and replace Nehemiah with Rod Milburn.